Track & Field
- Title:
- Director of Men’s and Women’s Track and Field
- Email:
- UGATFXC@sports.uga.edu
- Phone:
- 706-542-8035
Caryl Smith Gilbert, who led the University of Southern California women to the 2018 and 2021 NCAA outdoor team championships and was the National Women’s Coach of the Year both of those title-winning seasons, was named Georgia’s Director of Track and Field on June 13, 2021. Smith Gilbert became the first female head coach of a men’s sports program in the history of Georgia Athletics.
The 2021 USC women’s squad gave Smith Gilbert her second national title in the last three NCAA Outdoor Championships, while the Trojan men finished in the top-five at the 2021 outdoor Nationals for the fourth time in the last seven championships under her guidance.
Smith Gilbert spent eight seasons (2014-21) as the Director of Track and Field at USC, building the program into a national powerhouse. She guided the women’s team to a 2018 NCAA Outdoor National Championship, earning the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Women’s (USTFCCCA) National Coach of the Year honor and being named the USATF Nike Coach of the Year. That same season, the Trojans’ men’s squad finished second at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In 2021, Smith Gilbert again garnered National Coach of the Year honors after her women’s team earned a spot at the top of the podium and her men’s team was fifth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The Trojan track and field teams combined to finish in the top-10 an impressive 16 times in Smith Gilbert’s eight seasons at the helm. She mentored over 200 first-team All-Americans, while her teams set close to 130 school top-10 marks and 50 program records. Her athletes also won over 20 individual NCAA event titles.
Smith Gilbert garnered the USTFCCCA West Region Coach of the Year award on six occasions and is a five-time South Region Coach of the Year, two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and six-time Conference USA Coach of the Year. In 2015, she became the first woman to earn the Pac-12 Men’s Coach of the Year honor.
USC’s 2018 NCAA outdoor championships was just the second women’s title in program history. The women claimed the crown with a come-from-behind victory over Georgia in the 4X400-meter relay, the meet’s final event. That national championship was the culmination of another successful season under Smith Gilbert’s guidance. The women’s team also won the Pac-12 title, while the men’s squad finished third.
She led the USC men’s program to top-five national finishes in the outdoor championships in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2021 while the women finished in the top-five of the outdoor event in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.
Prior to her time with the Trojans, Smith Gilbert was a six-time Conference USA Coach of the Year at the University of Central Florida. She guided the Knights’ women’s team to a program-best fifth-place finish at the 2013 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
The Knights won six C-USA track and field indoor and outdoor crowns, while her athletes earned All-America status more than 100 times and set over 100 school records.
Smith Gilbert spent five seasons (2003-07) as an assistant coach at Tennessee, where she was responsible for coaching sprints, hurdles and jumps. Her Lady Vol athletes won three NCAA titles and seven Southeastern Conference crowns. In 2005, Tennessee won its first NCAA indoor championship as her athletes combined for 24 All-America honors.
Smith Gilbert was an assistant coach at Alabama for three years (2000-02) and an assistant at Penn State from 1998-99.
Prior to her career in the collegiate ranks, the Denver, Colo. native was the head coach at her prep alma mater, George Washington High, from 1994-97. In addition to her experience at the high school and collegiate levels, Smith Gilbert was an assistant with Team USA and was invited to coach the 2005 Pan Am Junior Championships. She was also selected to serve as an assistant coach for the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan.
Smith Gilbert is a 1991 graduate of UCLA, where she was a three-time All-American and Pac-10 champion in the 100m, 4x100m relay and the 4x400m relay. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Film and Television Production from UCLA and earned Master’s degrees in Sport Management and Sport Psychology from the University of Tennessee.
Smith Gilbert is married to former University of Alabama standout and NFL linebacker Greg Gilbert. They have three sons: Alex, Spencer and Osiris.
